


I'm Not Freaking Out

by reyofdarkness (mitslits)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fake Relationship, Ghost Hunter AU, Mostly Crack, With bits of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 21:50:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16375625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitslits/pseuds/reyofdarkness
Summary: Intrepid ghost-hunters Ben and Rey are used to crawling in, around, and under abandoned places to get their share of spooks and scares (all fake, of course; they know ghosts aren't real). But when they come across an old schoolhouse with a haunted history, the TV magic might take a dive into the actually supernatural.





	I'm Not Freaking Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tomorrowthestars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomorrowthestars/gifts).



> Hello, my person! I was delighted by both your prompts. For the longest time, I was going to do the grumpy apple-picking one but then Mystery Skulls dropped a new music video and I knew I had to work ghosts in somehow. I hope this is to your taste :)
> 
> Many thanks to my beta, capaldisrighteyebrow!

“Okay, places, people, places! We don’t have all week.” Kaydel clapped her hands to urge things on. 

Rey hurried over to where Ben was standing in front of the cameras and had to push up the overlong sleeves of her flannel. Or, more accurately, Ben’s flannel. 

It made him smile to see it, her dwarfed in checkered red-and-black, even if he knew it wasn’t by choice. Sex sold, and a ghost-hunting couple was vastly more interesting than just another pair of paranormal investigators. As soon as the cameras stopped rolling, he and Rey returned to the cordial friendship they’d never advanced past. Yes, sex sold. But Ben was eternally, painfully aware that there was no actual sex happening. 

“Ben!” 

Rey’s voice brought him snapping back into the present. Her eyebrows were arched expectantly, one hand wrapped around a protoplasm detector that was about as real as their relationship. “Rey,” he said. 

“You good? Ready to do this?” She offered him a tentative thumbs-up. 

He flashed her a more confident one in return. “Ready when you are, sweetheart.” 

A smile bloomed on her face. “Save it for the cameras, babe.” She winked, and Ben’s heart skipped a beat or two. Then she was off in a whirlwind of last-minute preparations, and Ben was left staring after her like a lovestruck idiot. 

Which, of course, he was. 

~ 

Ben had a camera poised on his shoulder, the other hand clamped around the lens to keep things in focus. They were still outside using natural lighting, but as soon as they went indoors, they would switch to night vision gear, and he could join Rey in front of the cameras instead of being stuck behind one. He always filmed the introductory segment, Rey speaking directly to both him and the camera. They’d first tried the format once in the third season; positive reviews had come flooding in online. Viewers had said it made things feel more intimate, and the network had insisted they keep the format. 

Fortunately, this kept raking in the ratings. Unfortunately, it meant Ben had to try and stay focused on filming while Rey was flirty and playful for a good three minutes. “Good for ratings, bad for Ben’s heart” was a pretty good summary of the show, if he was being honest with himself. 

Tonight, their backdrop was an old schoolhouse. It had been some sort of boarding school for incredibly gifted children until one of them had gone batshit, murdered most of the other students (and his teacher), and burned half the place down. What remained was a charred skeleton of what had once been someplace impressive. Now, it was mostly overgrown. The lawn they were standing on was fighting a losing battle with encroaching bushes and weeds, and the schoolhouse wasn’t faring much better. Kudzu vines were slowly devouring charcoal slats; most of the windows were filled with little more than jagged remnants of glass. Honestly, the place gave him the creeps. 

“Locals say,” Rey said, and Ben suddenly remembered he had a job he was meant to be doing, “that you can still smell smoke if the wind is right.” She paused to sniff dramatically. Then, her eyes focused on Ben, completely ignoring the camera. She was way too good at this. “Do you smell anything?” 

“Snap’s cigarettes,” Ben said without missing a beat. 

Rey rolled her eyes, but her smile was unbearably fond. “ _ Anyway,  _ people also say if you’re really lucky, you might see the ghost of one of Kylo’s victims wandering the grounds. And if you’re really  _ un _ lucky, you could see Kylo himself, looking for more people to slaughter.” Her voice dropped a couple octaves, her face grave. 

Ben adopted a suitably astonished expression, even though he was offscreen. Helped him stay in character. “Woah.” 

“Cool, right?” Rey asked, back to her usual bubbly self. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and be unlucky.” 

“And that’s a wrap on the intro,” Ben said, lowering the camera. 

“Nice ad-libbing,” Rey teased as she fell into step beside him. Her voice fell into the register she reserved specifically for making fun of him. “‘Woah.’”

Ben passed the camera off to one of the many techs scrambling to prepare for the next segment: entering the house. “Hey, I didn’t want to steal your thunder,” he said. “You were making all of that sound really dramatic.” 

Rey flipped her hair over one shoulder and preened. “Aw, thanks,” she said, batting her eyelashes.

Ben made a slightly choked noise in the back of his throat that he quickly turned into a cough. Immediately, someone handed him a bottle of water. He took it, swigged some down, and cleared his throat. “So what  _ actually  _ happened here?” he asked, trying to sound genuinely curious and not like he was just trying desperately to hold Rey’s attention for a little while longer. 

“Oh, all that stuff was true,” Rey said. She plucked the bottle from Ben’s hand and took a sip of her own before passing it back. 

Okay. Cool. Rey’s lips had just touched the rim of the bottle, exactly where his mouth had been mere seconds earlier. Cool, cool, cool. That meant nothing. It took him a second to realize Rey was still talking. 

“Kylo didn’t just randomly go crazy and kill everyone, though. There was some sort of family stuff going on behind the scenes. There’s a lot of people who say this school is infected by his tortured spirit. You go in there, you find out who you really are. Who your family really is.” Rey’s hands curled slightly into fists, her eyes fixed on the burnt husk of the school. 

Suddenly, Ben remembered who had really pushed to get this location into the line-up. Plutt was known for exploiting weaknesses if he thought it would up the viewership. “Rey,” he said cautiously. “You know this is all fake, right?” 

“What?” Rey asked, as if just coming out of a fog. “Oh, yeah. Duh. But it makes for good television, right? An orphan, struggling to connect with the spirit of her parents.” She clasped her hands in front of her chest and cast a hopeful gaze towards the rapidly darkening sky. She dropped the pose a second later and shrugged. “We’re going to explain the family part in voiceover. Didn’t you read the script?” 

“I never do,” Ben muttered. Rey was doing a pretty good job of seeming nonchalant about the whole thing, but it had to sting. He and Plutt were going to have words. 

Rey smiled at him, the same fondly exasperated one she’d used on Ben-the-boyfriend, and, god, Ben was reading way too much into things today. “You’re terrible at this.” 

“Good enough to keep us on the air for five seasons running,” he said, mock-offended. 

Rey elbowed him. “A joint effort. I’ve been carrying your ass this whole time.” 

Ben snorted. “Like you could ever lift me. It’s probably true, though. People like to see a pretty face, and I’m certainly not the one on the DVD covers.” Before he could stop himself, he reached out to take Rey’s chin in his hand. 

She smirked at him and tapped his chest. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, her palm coming to rest just above his heart. He hoped she didn’t notice the way it raced at the contact. She didn’t seem to, her eyes focused on her finger as it traced a path along his collarbone. “Almost half our viewership is female…” 

Someone cleared their throat. “You guys realize we’re not rolling at the moment, right?” Snap was staring at them, wires bundled in his arms, eyebrows arched. 

Immediately, Ben dropped his hand. 

Rey was quick to follow. “It’s called method acting, Snap,” Rey said as she breezed past him, her tone light enough to be teasing. “Look it up.” 

“Yeah, Snap,” Ben muttered as he followed in Rey’s wake. “Look it up.” But  _ he  _ hadn’t been acting. The real question was: had Rey been? 

~ 

They were using the dying sunlight to their advantage, as they always did. It was kind of striking, Ben had to admit, to see the two of them limned in gold as they stood in front of the haunted place’s gaping maw.

“And we’re sure this is structurally sound?” Ben asked as the camera crew was setting up the shot. He eyed the blackened wood skeptically. It seemed as if the whole thing would fall apart if someone so much as brushed against it. “I like this show, but I’m not willing to die for it.” 

Kaydel pursed her lips and flipped through a sheaf of papers on her clipboard. She found what she was looking for and turned it to face him, pointing at the relevant information. “Inspected by the county,” she said. “Perfectly safe.” 

Ben wasn’t sure about “perfectly safe,” but the form looked legit enough to satisfy him. He gave her a thumbs-up, and she hurried off. The camera crew signaled that they were ready, so all unnecessary personnel cleared out of the shot. Rey seemed to appear out of nowhere, materializing next to his elbow. 

“Okay, since you neglected to read the script,” she said, knocking her hip against his and nearly giving him a heart attack in the process, “I’m supposed to cry in there at some point. Ostensibly, it’s when I see my parents, but I might shake it up a little, make it a heartfelt monologue about how even my parents’ spirits couldn’t be bothered to show up.” 

Ben pulled a face without even meaning to. “Screw Plutt,” he burst out, and Rey blinked at him in shock. “It’s a cheap move,” he went on, infuriated on her behalf. How dare Plutt use something so personal as nothing more than a ratings boost? 

Rey patted his shoulder, but that did little to calm him. “Relax,” she said. “It’s just business. I’ll be fine. I just thought I should let you know so you don’t freak out when I burst into tears.” She sniffled convincingly and threw in a slight lip wobble for good measure. 

Damn his weak heart. Ben had to fight down the urge to pull her close and comfort her. She really was a startlingly good actress. 

“Cameras ready and rolling! Let’s get this done before we lose the light!” 

The shout brought Ben back into reality. He rolled his shoulders and tried to get himself back in the spirit of things. Before he let himself get completely absorbed, however, he bent down closer to Rey. “You sure you’ll be okay?” he asked quietly. To his surprise, she reached for his hand, linked her fingers with his, and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. 

“Trust me, I’ll be all right.” She smiled softly up at him. 

When she didn’t release him, Ben realized they were rolling. His stomach twisted. Had that moment been real or was it just another scene? He shook his head imperceptibly.  _ Focus, Solo. Focus on the fake ghosts.  _

Together, he and Rey walked into the schoolhouse, just as the last of the sunlight faded into nothingness. 

~

If Ben had thought the outside was unsettling, the inside was downright creepy. He was used to abandoned places by now; he’d been in enough of them that he thought he’d grown immune to their atmosphere. There was something about this place, though, that really got under his skin, made him itch. 

A shudder rippled down his spine as he gazed around at soot-stained walls, scuffed floorboards, and staircases that looked like they were about to collapse at any second. Maybe he should ask Kaydel if he could take a second look at that clipboard of hers, just to make sure… Something brushed against the back of Ben’s neck, and he almost yelped. He spun around, intent on giving whomever had startled him a piece of his mind, but most of the crew was outside, and Rey was over by the far wall scraping at a black patch. 

Ben’s eyes narrowed. “Hello?” he whispered into the empty air and instantly feeling stupid for doing it. Ghosts didn’t exist. The show must be getting to him. Perhaps a mid-season hiatus was in order. People seemed to love those nowadays. 

Kaydel snapped her fingers to get both his and Rey’s attention. “Great news,” she said. “Kylo’s room was on the ground floor, so we can get a bunch of footage in there. A few of the dead kids, rest in peace, had rooms on the ground floor too. Unfortunately, upstairs is off limits.” Her eyes slid sideways toward Ben. “Safety issues.” 

“Cool,” Rey said. “We’ll check it out.” 

Ben was just about to ask “we will?” when Rey grabbed his wrist and dragged him off. “Okay, I guess we will,” he mumbled under his breath. He followed behind Rey as she led them into an empty section of the house. Every doorway they passed made him flinch, imagining what secrets could be hidden behind each wooden slab. “Doesn’t this place creep you out a little?” he found himself asking. 

“What?” Rey asked. She didn’t wait for Ben to answer before pointing at a door that looked just like every other one they’d passed. “Oh, look, here’s Kylo’s room.” 

Ben stared at her dubiously. “How do you know that’s — ” But his question died as she opened the door, yanked him inside, and slammed it closed — then vanished. Ben found himself alone in the darkened room, every hair on the back of his neck standing on end. What the hell was —

“Ben! Ben? Hey, come on, talk to me.” 

Ben opened his eyes to find himself stretched out on the floor, a myriad of worried faces hovering over him. His eyes fixed on one in particular: Rey, her hand cupping his cheek, eyes anxious. “What…happened?” 

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Most of them wandered off, and he heard one voice calling for water, another to get a camera ready, they’d wasted enough time already. The show must go on and all that. 

Only Rey stayed right where she was, though she did pull her hand away. He missed her warmth instantly and had to swallow a request for her to replace it. “You keeled over as soon as you stepped inside the house,” she said. “Went down like an axed tree.” 

Ben groaned. That explained why his head was throbbing. “Must’ve tripped over a cable or something.” His tongue felt thick in his mouth, his words strangely slurred. 

“Yeah,” Rey said, though she didn’t look convinced. 

He made to sit up and regretted it. His head protested, and he put a hand to the back of it. His fingers came away clean, but the beginnings of a bump had already begun to form. “Ouch.” 

Rey’s fingers rested where his had just been, carding cautiously through his hair. “Are you okay?” she asked. Her voice was thick with concern. “We can push filming ‘til tomorrow if we need to. They have enough to start editing — ” 

Ben cut her off with a shake of his head, another move it disliked. “No,” he said. Everyone would be irritated if he sent them into a time crunch, and besides, he was fine now. “We can film.” His eyes narrowed a little as he struggled to separate what was real from what must have been a dream. “Did Kaydel show us Kylo’s room?” 

Rey’s frown was answer enough. “What?” 

Ben waved the question off. “Nothing. Help me up?” His head was still pounding, but it had dulled to more of an ache. Totally manageable. Maybe Kaydel had aspirin. 

“Thought you said I couldn’t lift you,” Rey said, but her tone was too anxious to be truly teasing. She wrapped her hands around his arm and hauled him up. 

As soon as Ben was standing, he felt fine. His head stopped aching, and his mind and vision cleared. “All right, let’s get this show on the road.” 

~

They’d gotten some good footage, the abandoned academy providing plenty of atmospheric creaks and groans that made things all the more eerie. Ben and Rey had overreacted to each one of them, calling out to supposed spirits and jumping at shadows. It wasn’t the most dignified thing ever, but hey, it was a living. 

Things were mostly wrapped up. All they had left was the big finale — Rey’s crying. Ben was not looking forward to it. 

“You really don’t have to do this,” he was saying as they made their way back downstairs. He kept a tight grip on the banister, dream-Kaydel’s warning about structural unsoundness ringing in his ears. “It’s demeaning as hell.” 

Rey huffed. “Honestly, Ben, if anyone should be upset about this, it’s me. Do I seem upset to you?” She shot him a blinding grin. 

For once, Ben was able to keep his composure. “I guess not,” he said with a shrug. “It just seems like you should be.” 

“Tough. My parents didn’t make a big deal about me. I’m not going to make a big deal about them either.” She wrinkled her nose, but her sour expression soon faded, replaced by something softer. “Hey, how’s your head?” 

“Oh.” Ben had almost forgotten about the bump. He poked at it again but nothing came out of it, no burst of pain or even twinge of discomfort. “I barely remembered I’d even hit it,” he said truthfully. 

Rey looked relieved. “That’s good. Still, you should probably get some ice on it later, okay? Even if it feels fine.” 

“I will.” At Rey’s skeptical glance, he made an X over his heart. “I promise.” 

That seemed to satisfy her, as she went off to find Kaydel who was in charge of staging the final scene. Left to his own devices, Ben took to wandering around the main area, keeping an eye out for any stray cables. He didn’t honestly think that was the reason for his earlier fall, but there was no other ready explanation. He didn’t have a history of fainting, and he’d been drinking enough not to be dehydrated. Weird. This place must just be messing with him. At least they were almost done filming. Ben would be glad to put this place in the rearview. 

“All right, Ben, can you come over here, please?”

Ben looked over to find Kaydel emphatically gesturing him over to where she and Rey were standing. They were framed in the entrance of a corridor they hadn’t explored yet, so Ben shoved his hands in his pockets and made his way over to join them. “What’s up?” 

“We’re just about ready,” Kaydel said. “The two of you are going to walk down the hall, talk up how soon you’re leaving, and that’s when we’ll get Rey’s breakdown.” 

Rey was nodding along, and Ben forced himself to do the same. Rey was right, after all; no matter how little he liked the idea, it was she who would be affected the most. 

“Perfect! Let’s get this finished.” Kaydel joined the rest of the crew, and two men with bulky camera rigs stepped into her place. “And… walk,” Kaydel commanded. 

Ben and Rey walked. But as soon as they passed the threshold into the hallway proper, Ben felt an icy trickle drip down his spine. He’d walked this same path mere hours earlier — in his dream. 

It was a carbon copy, every door the same, some ajar, some thoroughly shut, all the way he’d pictured them. That was impossible, though. He’d never seen this place. Inexplicably, he found himself drawn towards a door that looked like any other, but he knew it was the one that had been Kylo’s. He could hear Rey behind him, asking him what he was doing, but he ignored her. He couldn’t take his eyes off the innocuous wooden slab. Without quite knowing why, Ben reached out, grasped the handle, and pushed the door open. 

Darkness loomed beyond, so cloying that Ben couldn’t even make out the outline of the door’s frame as it swung inward. He reached for the flashlight he normally kept shoved in his pocket and flicked the switch. Nothing. He shook it a couple times in an attempt to coax the batteries back to life, but it stayed dead. With a frustrated huff, he shoved it back in his pocket. He had to go in. 

“What is it?” Rey was asking. “Do you see something?” She sounded far away, like she was talking to him from the end of a tunnel. 

Ben didn’t answer her. He couldn’t. All of his attention was fixed on the hungry void that seemed to want to swallow him whole. What little rational thought he had left begged him not to enter, but he ignored that too. Something greater than his own mind was drawing him in. 

Without a second thought, Ben stepped into the room. 

Only when it was too late did he remember that in his dream, Rey had vanished. He spun around, eyes wide. 

She stood outlined by the light, silhouetted so he couldn’t see the expression on her face. Nevertheless, confusion was plain in her voice as she said, “Ben — ?”

The door slammed shut of its own volition. Panic wrapped Ben in its long-fingered grasp. “No!” He lunged for the door, fingers wrapping around the knob, but it was so cold it felt like burning. He released it with a hiss of pain. “Rey!” he called, but if she replied, he couldn’t hear her. 

He was trapped and alone, just like he had been in his dream. Now, he thought, was possibly the worst time to have become psychic. He pounded at the door, the wood shaking under his assault but refusing to yield. “Rey!” he tried again. Again, he was met with only that terrible silence. And then he heard the one thing that could be worse than the silence. 

Whispers. 

???: How do we want to do this?    
**???: I don’t know. I’ve never done this before.** **  
** _???: None of us have. We’ll just have to figure it out as we go.  _

Every hair on the back of Ben’s neck stood up as he listened. Slowly, reluctantly, he turned around. 

???: Well, we’ve wasted our chance. He’s turning around. 

What Ben saw stole all the breath from his lungs. “I fainted again,” he gasped. “This is a dream.” For standing in front of him he saw none other than his father, his Uncle Luke, and a man he recognized as his grandfather only from pictures — all deceased. 

They looked much as they had in life except for a faint blue glow around their edges. Ben had to clutch at the doorframe or risk collapse. 

Luke (sighing): How uninspired.    
_ Anakin: I  _ was  _ hoping for a less typical reaction.  _ _  
_ **Han: Give the kid a break. He’s probably still recovering from that nap we gave him earlier.**

Ben watched their conversation like a ping-pong match, wide-eyed and silent. At least until his father spoke. He touched the bump on the back of his head resentfully. “That was you?” 

_ Anakin: It was my idea.  _ __  
Luke: We had to get you in here somehow. Away from all those cameras.    
**Han: Sorry, Ben. We won’t do it again.**

Doubt began to thread its way into Ben’s mind. He’d felt that bump. Would he have felt that in a dream? And that doorknob had hurt like a bitch… 

**Han: You’re not dreaming.**

Ben blinked. Were they in his head? 

_ Anakin: Yes.  _

Ben clamped his hands over his ears as if that would help block his thoughts. “No,” he said. 

**Han: I could do without being in your head, kid. It’s not exactly a choice.** **  
** Luke: And because I know you’re going to ask, it was coming here that did it. That girlfriend of yours is right; the veil is always thinner in places where there’s been a massacre. Something about mass amounts of death seems to wear it out. 

One part of that stuck out more than the rest. “She’s not my girlfriend,” Ben said.

_ Anakin: You want her to be. _

Ben opened his mouth to deny it, but he was cut off before he could get a word out.

Luke: There’s no point denying it, Ben. We’re in your head, remember?    
**Han (smirking): We could help you out. Scare her a little, send her running straight into your arms.**

Ben found his voice. “Do not do that.”

_ Anakin: Why not? In my experience, fear can be an excellent motivator.  _

“Rey isn’t the type of person to go running into anyone’s arms,” Ben said. Not once in the entire run of their show had he seen her so much as unsettled. Then again, they hadn’t run into any real ghosts. Until now. “Even if she were — which she isn’t — she deserves someone better than me.” It was what had stayed his tongue every time he’d been tempted to confess (which hadn’t been often; the fear of rejection was real and paralyzing). 

**Han: Come on, you’re not that bad.** **  
** _ Anakin: From what your father and uncle have told me, I’d have to agree. _

Ben rolled his eyes. “You have to say that. You’re my family.” 

Luke: We’re also dead. Do you think social niceties really apply to us?  

Ben hesitated. “Oh…right. I guess not.” Everything about this was impossible. Rey was right outside the door; he should be able to hear her. Ghosts didn’t exist, so three of them shouldn’t be standing in front of him. As if in a trance, he turned his back to them and tried the knob again. It didn’t burn this time, but it didn’t move either. Not even a rattle. 

Luke: We’re not letting you leave until you listen to us.    
_ Anakin: Think of this as an intervention.  _

This was exactly the sort of thing that would only happen to him, Ben thought. He finds out ghosts are real through the resurrection of three of his dead relatives who only want to meddle in his love life. “I don’t need an intervention.” He tried the door again, but it stayed stubbornly shut. 

Luke: We’ve been watching your show. It’s sad.    
_ Anakin: Very sad.  _ _  
_ **Han: I gotta say, it’s a little pathetic.**

“Thanks, dad,” Ben muttered. “Honestly, though, I’m good. The show is successful, and I’m fine, and Rey’s fine, so you can let me go now.” He paused for a second before tacking on a hopeful, “Please?” 

**Han: No can do.**   
Luke: We’re not letting you out of here until you promise to tell her how you really feel. No more beating around the bush.   
_ Anakin: If you don’t tell her, we’ll know. And we’ll haunt you for the rest of eternity.  _

Privately, Ben didn’t think that was much of a threat. They clearly didn’t have any intention of hurting him and, while they may be a nuisance, they were a nuisance he could handle. 

_ Anakin: You’re forgetting something. We’re more than just a nuisance; we’re inside your head. Do you really want to deal with  _ that  _ for the rest of your life?  _ _  
_ **Han: Bearing in mind that I am your father and you are constantly around a woman you find attractive.**

This was Ben’s nightmare. He absolutely could not go out there and confess his feelings to Rey. He absolutely could not stay in here forever. And he absolutely, most definitely could not let himself be haunted by his dad, his uncle, and his grandfather. He rested his forehead against the door and let his breath out in a long sigh. “I’ll tell her,” he rasped. What else could he do?

Luke: You’d better. Like we said, we’ll be watching.   
**Han (smirking): See you around, kid. Or hopefully not.**

The blue glow faded from the room as they disappeared, and the latch unlocked with a soft click. Barely able to believe they were actually letting him go, Ben turned the knob. The door opened. He cannoned out of the room, half-afraid that it would slam shut on him and he’d be trapped again. It didn’t, though, and he rocketed right into Rey. 

“Ben — !” 

He nearly knocked her over, had to wrap his arms around her and crush her to his chest to keep them both upright. “Sorry,” he gasped.

Rey thumped a fist against his chest and glared at him. “You really freaked me out,” she said. “We kept calling for you, but you didn’t answer. Did Plutt put you up to this?” 

Ben squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. It was now or never. “I love you, Rey. Not acting, not in the show. But for real. I’m, like, actually in love with you.” That was not the sweeping confession he’d wanted it to be, but hopefully it had satisfied his dead voyeurs. He opened his eyes to find Rey staring at him and Snap, who had been holding a camera on them the whole time, gaping in slack-jawed amazement. 

Rey snapped out of her stupor and seized Ben around the wrist. “Come with me,” she said. As she started to haul him off, she glared over her shoulder at Snap and the rest of the crew crowded in the hallway. “If any of you try and film this, I will break your damn cameras in half, got it?” 

Heart beating somewhere in his throat instead of his chest, Ben followed after Rey. 

She led him out of the house, using her phone flashlight to guide them over to one of the production trailers. There were a couple interns inside but they left speedily when Rey snapped at them to get out. 

Almost as soon as the door closed behind them, Rey’s hands were on Ben’s shoulders, pushing him down into a chair. He watched as she dug a bottle of water out of a cooler and took it when she handed it to him, but he couldn’t stay silent as she turned back to her phone and started dialing a number. “Who are you calling?” 

“Nine-one-one,” Rey said. “I think you have a concussion.” 

With a noise of protest, Ben lurched out of the chair. He plucked the phone out of her hand and ended the call before it could go through. “I don’t have a concussion.” Rey reached for her phone, but he held it up out of her reach. “I’m serious, Rey. I’m fine.” 

Rey dropped flat-footed with a huff, arms folded over her chest. “You’re not fine. You hit your head earlier, locked yourself in a room for a solid ten minutes, and then came out saying you’re in love with me? That doesn’t scream ‘fine’ to me.” 

“But I  _ am  _ in love with you,” Ben said. He had to make her believe that, if nothing else. “I wasn’t going to tell you, but the ghosts of my dad, uncle, and grandfather locked me up and threatened to haunt me if I didn’t.” 

Rey’s eyebrows lifted halfway to her hairline. “You do realize this is doing nothing to convince me you’re okay, right?” she asked. She renewed her efforts to retrieve her phone, but Ben continued to hold it out of her reach. 

He felt like an idiot doing it, but he’d felt like an idiot a lot that day. What was once more? Clearing his throat, he looked at the empty air around them and said, “Okay, I know you guys are watching. Want to help me out here, convince Rey I’m not actually crazy?” 

For a terrifying second, nothing happened, and Ben began to wonder if maybe he should let Rey call 911. Then a shimmering form appeared by Rey’s side: Luke. 

She yelped and jumped backwards, nearly tumbling over the chair Ben had vacated. 

He placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her, and she spun to face him with wide eyes. 

“How are you doing this? A hidden projector? Some sort of hologram? This can’t be real.” She turned to study Luke with narrowed eyes. 

Ben could practically see the gears working in her head as she tried to find the source of the supposed ghost. 

Luke: Oh, I’m real. Why does nobody think I’m real? You two are ghost-hunters, for Pete’s sake. Don’t be so skeptical. 

Gulping, Rey stretched a hand out towards Luke. Her fingertips passed right through his shoulder, and she yanked her arm back with a gasp. “Holy. Shit.” 

“Yeah, that’s about what I thought too,” Ben muttered. 

Rey stiffened and turned back back to face Ben almost mechanically. “So, wait a second. If you weren’t lying about the ghosts, then…” 

Ben chewed at his bottom lip. “I wasn’t lying about any of it,” he said quietly. His eyes skittered off to one corner of the production trailer; he couldn’t bear to look at her. Until she took his face in her hands and forced him to. To his surprise, there wasn’t anything like disgust or pity. If he didn’t know better, he would say she seemed almost… happy. 

“That’s a relief,” she said. “Because I love you for real too.” 

Ben barely had time to register her words before she was wrapping her arms around his neck and lifting onto her toes to press her lips to his. His hands automatically settled on her hips, and, when he’d gathered his wits enough to realize what was happening, he closed his eyes and kissed her back. 

Dazed, he eventually pulled back to rest his forehead against Rey’s. “I love you,” he said again, just because he could. 

Rey grinned, her fingers tangling into his hair. “I know.” 

Luke: My work here is done. 

With a jolt, Ben pulled back to look at his uncle. He’d completely forgotten about him. 

Luke winked as he faded out of existence, leaving Rey and Ben well and truly alone. 

“So…” Ben cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I guess we should probably go back in there and finish filming the episode?” 

Rey hummed, scraping her nails gently along his scalp. “We could,” she said. “Or we could go to my place and do things they couldn’t put on television.”

They shouldn’t, Ben knew that much. It was utterly irresponsible. The production team would be miffed. Kaydel would read them the riot act tomorrow. “Let’s go get banned from the airwaves.” 

~

Sunlight filtered in through a gap in Rey’s curtains and shone right into Ben’s eyes. It was a rude awakening, but the warm weight of Rey beside him more than made up for it. He propped himself up on one elbow, both to get the sun out of his face and so he could see Rey’s face cushioned on her pillow, hair spilling around her, lips parted slightly as she breathed deeply. She was stunning. Even the sight of her sleeping next to him was barely enough to convince Ben that the previous night had actually happened. 

His phone vibrated on the nightstand beside them. Reluctantly, he rolled over to grab it and groaned when he saw it was Plutt. 

Beside him, Rey stirred. “What’s goin’ on?” she murmured, eyes still closed. 

Ben stared at Plutt’s name on his screen, the phone still buzzing angrily. “I think we might be in trouble,” he said. He rejected the call and flopped onto his back, letting his head fall back against the pillow. 

“Uh oh.” Rey still hadn’t opened her eyes. She flipped herself over to curve back against Ben, her forehead pressed against his ribs. “Does this mean I have to get up?” 

Ben laughed softly. “No, I’ll take care of it.” He leaned forward to dust a kiss on the bare skin of her shoulder. She sighed as he slid out of bed, and that was almost enough to convince him to get back in with her, snuggle under the covers, and pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist. Not quite, though. He owed Plutt some words. 

He dressed quickly, snatching his phone up and already working on calling Plutt back as he moved outside. “Hello?” 

“What the hell are you and Niima playing at?” Plutt snapped. 

“Hello to you too,” Ben said with a roll of his eyes. It would have been more satisfying if Plutt were there to see it, but he would take what he could get. “And I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

Plutt’s anger was almost palpable even across the phone line. “The shoot! You abandoned the shoot! You and Rey owe me a finale.” 

“Relax.” Ben fished his keys out of his pocket and slipped into his car. “I’m on my way to set now. I’ll explain everything when I get there.”

“You’d better,” Plutt seethed. “And it had better be a damned good explanation.” 

“It will be.” With that, Ben hung up on him again. He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of doing that. 

~

Plutt was on him the second he stepped out of the car. “All right, Solo, start talking.” 

Ben shoved his hands in his pockets and started making his way toward the schoolhouse. It didn’t look nearly as threatening in the daylight. “We’re not going to do your finale,” he said simply. 

Plutt almost missed a step. “Excuse me?” he spluttered. 

“I said, we’re not going to do your finale.” Ben shrugged. “It’s demeaning, and I’m not letting you put Rey through that on national television. Or me, the next time you get some idea that’ll exploit something about  _ my  _ past.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Plutt’s face turning purple and had to swallow a smirk. He didn’t stop walking, went straight into the house and headed for the room that had so terrified him the day before. 

Plutt kept pace with him. “Who do you think you are?” he was asking. “I’m the executive producer. What I say goes, and I say Niima is going to give us a tearjerker, do you understand? You’d better watch yourself, Solo, or you’ll find yourself out of a job.” 

Ben counted off the doors until he found the right one. Humming, he stepped into the room, tilting his head to invite Plutt in as well. “I don’t think I will,” he said. “After all, Rey and I are the only ones on the show who have seen actual ghosts. We know what we’re doing way better than you.”

An ugly laugh rattled out of Plutt’s mouth. “Maybe I should fire you after all. Things have gone to your head. Ghosts aren’t real.” 

“No?” Ben asked, arching one eyebrow and praying his family was still listening. “Then how do you explain  _ this? _ ” He swept his arm toward the door, held his breath — and the door slammed shut. 

Plutt stopped laughing, but he seemed more irritated than anything. “Come on. I know all the tricks of the trade, Solo. Whatever crew member is helping you out with this little display is going to find themselves out on their ass.” He directed his last words at the closed door with a self-satisfied smile. 

Ben tsked and shook his head. “No crew members here, Plutt. It’s just you,” he took a step forward and the light flickered. “Me.” Another flicker, and Plutt began to look a little less sure of himself. “And the ghosts.” The light blew out with a loud pop. The last thing Ben saw before they were plunged into darkness was Plutt’s shocked expression. He could have laughed if it wouldn’t have ruined the illusion. 

“What is this? What’s going on?” Plutt’s was doing his best to sound annoyed, but Ben could hear his uncertainty. 

“Like I was saying,” Ben said as casually as he could, “when you’re in our line of work, you have to get used to the supernatural. Friendly with it. Now I can help you out here, Plutt, but I want your promise that you aren’t going to do any more bullshit emotional manipulation. Do I have it?” 

“You are fired. Everyone on set today is fired. They’re all in on this somehow, and I won’t stand for it. I’ll make sure none of you can find another job in T.V — ” 

Ben could see it coming, the blue-lined hand reaching out of the shadows to clamp down on Plutt’s shoulder, and he had to bite his lip to keep quiet. 

Plutt let out an unholy shriek at the contact and whirled around to catch whoever it was. “Who did that? Show yourself!” He swung his fists wildly but encountered only empty air. “Ghosts aren’t real. Ghosts aren’t real!” 

More blue-lined touches, to the back of Plutt’s neck, his arms, the top of his head. He was set in a frantic, whirling dance as he tried to watch every direction at once, but no one was ever in sight. 

“Promise me, Plutt,” Ben said, struggling to keep from sounding too amused. “Promise me, and I’ll let you go.” 

For a second all was still as Han, Luke, and Anakin waited to see what Plutt’s answer would be. “Fuck you, Solo,” Plutt rasped. “Ghosts aren’t-” 

Han materialized right behind Plutt, clamped down on his shoulders, and leaned in right next to his ear. “Boo.” 

Plutt fled the room, screaming about promises and ghosts and Benjamin fucking Solo. 

The lights came back on to show Ben watching Plutt’s undignified retreat with a wolfish smile. Three forms shimmered into existence behind him. “Thanks,” he said as he turned to face them. 

**Han: No problem, kid.** **  
**_ Anakin: Glad we could be of service.  _ _  
_ Luke: Now make sure your show doesn’t suck. 

Ben thought of the parody of a relationship he and Rey had been acting out all this time, how much better it would be now that he could be sincere. “I will,” he said. It was a promise he intended to keep.  ****_  
_


End file.
